Mother and Child

A news story on Manassas Patch caught my attention the other day.  A Fairfax, VA woman, Adrianna Teran, who reportedly gave birth to her child at home, has been indicted on charges of first-degree murder and child abuse in the killing of her baby last year, according to the Washington Post.  She walked into Inova Fairfax Hospital with the baby’s body in May 2013.  Police said a medical examiner ruled the death as a homicide and the cause of death was a blunt force trauma to the head. 

My husband Dave and I discussed our culture’s chilling disconnect between the sentence of first-degree murder for this mother, and the “legal” killing of a baby any time before it draws its first breath.  I felt I had to speak up, so I posted a comment on Manassas Patch. Needless to say, it drew some fire! 

I wrote, “Okay, so yes, what this woman did in killing her day-old baby is horrible, atrocious, and deserving of the sentence of murder.  But explain this: why is a woman not prosecuted for killing her baby in the womb?  Why isn’t she prosecuted as a murderer when “doctors” suck the brains out of her baby as it’s coming down the birth canal?  Why are abortion clinics allowed to exist?  Why is a mother encouraged to kill her baby in the womb if it’s inconvenient to give birth to it?  Hmm?  What an evil, double standard!  Abortion is murder, PERIOD!  Wake up, people!

Catherine R. from Fairfax wrote a rebuttal: “It’s not the same thing, Elaine.  Pro-Choice means you don’t ever have to have an abortion if you don’t ever want one.  But you are not entitled to force your beliefs on anyone else.”

Really?  I responded:

“It IS the same thing, Catherine.  Ending the life of your baby in or out of the womb is murder. I am not forcing my beliefs on anyone; you speak your mind, I speak mine.  The sad thing is, the baby has no “choice.”  It’s the mother who “chooses” to murder her baby. I know people don’t want to hear that, don’t like to hear that, but it’s the truth.  Pro-Choice, as you call it (I call it Pro-Abortion) gives the mother the legal right to murder her baby.  Sad day in America for sure!  Just because something is “legal” in our country does NOT mean it’s morally right.  And therein lies the problem.”

One person posting as “Vienna” agreed with me that abortion is murder.

Later, as I worked in the kitchen, I felt led to add this comment to Manassas Patch:  “I do want to add that for those women who’ve had abortions, my heart goes out to them, because I’ve personally heard friends say how their pain of abortion negatively impacted them for many years. They found forgiveness and healing of their soul when they asked Jesus to forgive them, because they were truly sorry.  Jesus will heal and restore all who come to Him.  There is a wonderful ministry called Sozo here in Manassas for anyone who desires inner healing from trauma of any kind.”  (Living Faith Church in Manassas provides the Sozo ministry).

The following quote is from Deborah K. (whose comment was deleted after posting, but still came into my e-mail).  “I think where Elaine and so many others are missing it is that Elaine calls Pro-Choice Pro-Abortion which it is not.  Pro-Choice is the right for the woman with the counsel of her family and doctor – if she so chooses their counsel – to choose what is best for her. There are times when a woman’s health can be severely threatened due to the health condition of the mother where the added strain of carrying a baby could harm the mother’s health.  Pro-Choice doesn’t mean Pro-Abortion.  Pro-Choice is the inherent right to make a decision for yourself and your unborn baby without interference from anyone else. And like Catherine said, Pro-Choice means you don’t ever have to have an abortion if you don’t want one.  There are too many people trying to force their beliefs (religious or otherwise) on others – and it needs to stop.  They wanted me to have the amniocentesis test when a blood test came back abnormal.  But with the amniocentesis comes the risk that you could potentially lose or harm the baby (a risk of the procedure.)  They (my HMO referral doc) told me, “But the baby might have Downs or club foot, etc.”  I then said that would be fine with me.  They said but you should have the test – and I said why would I put an additional risk onto the life of the baby if I’m fine with the outcomes you are suggesting.  I didn’t have the test, and the baby was 100% fine.  Beware of these referral places as they make money off every test they can convince a woman to have – they want to be able to bill back to the HMO.  Bottom line – I made my own decision without being forced to do something I didn’t want to do – an inherent right = FREEDOM.” 

Sandra B. entered the discussion: “Reasonable people can disagree when life begins.  Some believe it is at conception, some at time of viability outside the womb.  Unreasonable people try to push their beliefs on to others.  For those who decry abortion, I’m sure you also support sustaining life past birth, right?  -- including helping mothers and children who need food stamps, WIC, and health insurance, including expanding Medicaid, right?”

I replied, “Sandra, you said “Unreasonable people try to push their beliefs on to others.”  Aren’t you trying to push your beliefs onto others?  A battle of ideas and beliefs that goes back to the Garden of Eden has always existed.  Disharmony and arguments have always existed. Only God has all the Truth.  That’s why God, our Creator, gave us His truth by written Word so we would know the right choices to make for success and peace in life.

“God (not I) declares when life begins, in Psalm 139:13-16 (New Living Translation).  It says, “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.  Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  Your workmanship is marvelous – how well I know it.  You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.  You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day passed.”  God says life begins at the moment of conception.  So I choose to believe what God says.  God has a good plan laid out for each person conceived, but when people choose to abort that God-given life, it hurts His kind and loving heart.  I wonder how many doctors, scientists, inventors of good things, etc, that would have blessed our nation and the world, were aborted?  I grieve with God for every lost life. 

“To answer your last question/statement, Sandra, YES I support sustaining life past birth.  I believe in helping the helpless.  Absolutely.  What I don’t believe in is a bloated bureaucratic system that rips off the tax payer and feeds itself by encouraging unnecessary dependence and disincentive in people – a system that deadens dreams and potential in generations of people.  God has answers for that, too, if our lawmakers would take them into account.”

Sandra B. replied, “Yup, just as I expected.  You get to choose who is deserving, post-birth.  You get to choose what is “unnecessary dependence.”  You might want to look up some quotes from Jesus.  Don’t remember him putting qualifiers on helping the poor.  In your system, the Government gets to choose how a woman handles her pregnancy, then tells her it’s her responsibility to raise the baby. Must be nice to have it both ways.” 

Sigh.  Do you see the battle we’re in, folks?  Total distortion of what I said and refusal to believe the truth shows hardness and bitterness of heart.  I am all for helping the truly needy.  She chose to deflect the original issue that abortion is murder, the taking of a human life, and respond with sarcasm.  The government has always had “qualifications” for receiving financial help.  And yes, the woman is responsible before God to either give the baby up for adoption or raise the child herself with the help of family and friends.  The government must not sanction the murder of innocent babies!

Now to the conjecture made by Catherine R. and Deborah K., that Pro-Choice means "you don't have to have an abortion if you don't want one."  Seriously?  That reasoning implies there's a law in our country that says you must abort your child, and the "Pro-Choice" crowd has to protect the woman from having one.  Are they living in China?  What twisted thinking.

I prayed for these women, that God would turn their hearts to humility, honesty, and an acknowledgement of the truth.  I pray for the day in our nation and culture when abortion will once again be considered murder and the diabolical atrocity that it is.

God bless you, dear reader! 

Copyright © 2014 Elaine Beachy